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Eckstein KN, Rosenbaum D, Zehender N, Pleiss S, Platzbecker S, Martinelli A, Herrmann ML, Wildgruber D. Induced feelings of external influence during instructed imaginations in healthy subjects. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1005479. [PMID: 36389532 PMCID: PMC9664387 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1005479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The psychopathological phenomenon of delusions of influence comprises variable disturbances of the self-environment-border leading to the feeling of external influence on thoughts, feelings, impulses or behaviors. Delusions of influence are a hallmark in psychotic illness, but nevertheless, attenuated forms can also appear in healthy individuals. Here we present a newly developed paradigm to induce and assess feelings of external influence during instructed imaginations in healthy individuals. In the current study, we asked 60 healthy individuals to visually imagine different objects. To induce feelings of external influence, we applied one of three different physical setups (low-amplitude transcranial direct current stimulation, eye contact, or skin-to-skin hand touch), and informed the participants whether or not an external influence was attempted during the respective trial. The physical setup (setup vs. no setup, Z = -3.847, p < 0.001, r = 0.497) as well as the information given to the participants (confirmation vs. negation, Z = -5.218, p < 0.001, r = 0.674) alone were able to modulate the feeling of external influence in all three interventions. The impact of information (whether influence was attempted or not attempted) significantly exceeded the impact of the physical setup on the ratings of experienced external influence (Z = -2.394, p = 0.016, r = 0.310). Moreover, the response latency correlated with the estimated feeling of external influence (r S = 0.392, p = 0.002). Additional analyses addressed the influence of the emotional content of imagined objects and examined the intensity and emotional valence of the imaginations. Further supplemental analyses correlated external influence estimation of the participants with other psychopathological measures (trait markers for supernatural beliefs, proneness to hallucinations, and delusions and attributional style). In conclusion, this study endorses a quantitative model of psychopathological characteristics, in this case feelings of external influence that can be induced by external cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathrin N. Eckstein
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany,*Correspondence: Kathrin N. Eckstein,
| | - David Rosenbaum
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nadine Zehender
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Sonja Pleiss
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Sharon Platzbecker
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Anne Martinelli
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany,School of Psychology, Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Matthias L. Herrmann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany,Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Dirk Wildgruber
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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